EAST OF SAMOA

ACT ONE

Scene One

 

Marcel's Place in Papeete, Tahiti. It is 1932. There is a bar downstage right with stools in front of it. Center stage we have a few chairs and tables, behind which is a rickety staircase leading to a second-floor room hidden by beaded curtains. At rise, the stage is filled with an assortment of South Seas types, mostly French, British and American SERVICEMEN, and a few blowsy WOMEN. They are all drinking and having a jolly old time. MARCEL, the proprietor, is behind the bar. He can be short, fat, tall, slim---it makes absolutely no difference. Downstage left at a table by himself is a wizened little DRUNKEN BUM with a strong cockney accent. DRUNKEN BUM Papeete, Tahiti. Seedy Papeete, Tahiti.

BURLY FRENCH SAILOR

Pap-e-ay-te.

DRUNKEN BUM

Shady Pap-ee-ay-te, Ta-hay-te. Paradise they calls it. I'll tell you about this stinkin' paradise. A man could go mad---stark, raving mad. (LT. JIM PEARSOLL enters from the right. He is young, gorgeous, American, depressed and irretrievably stupid. HE plunks himself down at the bar.  FLO, a big-bosomed American postitute sashays toward him.) JIM Gimme a whiskey---straight.

FLO

You got it bad, kid---and that ain't good.

DRUNKEN BUM

Stark, raving mad.

JIM

(to Marcel)

Gimme another. FLO Take it easy, kid.

JIM

Leave the whole blasted bottle.

FLO

What dya see in her anyway, kid? I got everything she got---only more of it.

JIM

Get lost.

FLO

She's rotten to the core, kid. As rotten as the wood in that ceiling. As rotten as the food in that kitchen. As a rotten as…

JIM

You say another word against her, and I'll smash your face in. (BURLY FRENCH SAILOR, sitting at the bar, leaps up and menaces Jim.) BURLY FRENCH SAILOR Watch yourself, Americain peeg.

FLO

Mind your own beeswax. (FLO shoves the sailor away as THREE ENGLISH TOURISTS enter. ESME and CLARISSE are in their mid-20s, both attractive and dressed in organdy prints with matching floppy hats. COLIN, Clarisse's fiancé, is slim and veddy upperclass. They are a startling contrast to the others.) ESME What a marvelously quaint place! (MARCEL hurries from behind the bar to greet the new arrivals and seats them at a table next to the DRUNKEN BUM.) MARCEL Mesdames, m'sieur, welcome to Marcel's.

COLIN

I say, what time does Mandalay Molly come on?

MARCEL

Any moment now.

CLARISSE

Mandalay Molly, I can't wait. I heard about her all the way over in Singapore.

ESME

I heard about her in Liverpool. (BURLY FRENCH SAILOR has taken an immediate shine to Clarisse and approaches the table.) BURLY FRENCH SAILOR I heard about her in the men's room of the Sorbonne.

CLARISSE

Did you really?

COLIN

Ignore him, Clarisse.

CLARISSE

Excuse me, darling, but my fiancé says I must ignore you. (BURLY FRENCH SAILOR retreats a few steps back, but continues to stare at her.) COLIN For God's sake, Clarisse. Be careful. This place is dangerous.

CLARISSE

He just made a gesture. Obscene, I think.

COLIN

Clarisse, if you don't behave yourself… (CLARISSE smiles at the French sailor and surreptitiously waves.) FLO I can give you a good time, kid. Give a girl a break. (JIM suddenly rises with determination, rushes up the staircase and through the beaded curtain. At that moment, ARMAND DUVAL enters. He is tall, vewy Fwench and a trifle sinister. His dressed in white with a white Panama hat.) MARCEL Bon nuit, m'sieur. If you will please to come this way. (MARCEL leads him to a table downstage left on the other side of the Drunken Bum. As he does, an Oriental at the bar turns around and observes Duval closely. His name is CHANG. Another Oriental, sitting next to him, turns also. His name is WANG. They are clearly up to no good. JIM staggers out from the beaded curtain, stricken with grief. HE pulls out a pistol, shoots himself in the temple, then topples over the balcony. FLO screams. EVERYONE stops.) ESME Oh, dear!

MARCEL

                                                     (to two Husky Sailors)
Get him out of here.
                                                     (To the Others)
Nothing, nothing. All taken care of.

CLARISSE

What was that all about?

MARCEL

Nothing, madame. Just Mandalay Molly.

ESME

Then it's true---she does drive men to their destruction?

MARCEL

We lose more sailors that way.

DRUNKEN BUM

Did I 'ear someone say Mandalay Molly?

COLIN

Don't answer, Clarisse.

CLARISSE

Yes. Do you know her?

DRUNKEN BUM

Know 'er? Know the Moll? If it wasn't for 'er, I wouldn't be in this condition now. It was last year---when I was 18. (Without any preliminary warning, the orchestra launches into "Mandalay Molly" as the SERVICEMEN and PARONS take up the song from their individual places, eventually moving to form a chorus line stage center.) SERVICEMEN

Oh, Mandalay Molly!
She's our kind of dolly---
There's no other dame
Who'll set you aflame
Like Mandalay Moll.

Oh, Mandalay Molly!
To love her is folly.
Fall under her spell,
She'll drive you to hell
Or, at least, alcohol.

You can't conceive it---
One kiss and you'll swoon!
 

DRUNKEN BUM

You won't believe it,
But I'll be nineteen in June.

SERVICEMEN

Oh, Mandalay Molly!
We're so melancholy---
Here is our heart
To sample it,
Trample it,
Then tear it apart!

That is the end,
But what a finale!
For one night of love
With Mandalay Molly!
Our Mandalay Moll!

(THEY go into a rousing dance then return to their previous positions and activities.)

CLARISSE It's so exciting, I can't stand it.

COLIN

If you don't stop flirting with that frog sailor, I'm leaving.

CLARISSE

Who cares about him when there's Mandalay Molly.

ESME

Clarisse! You are the most extraordinary girl.  They do say, you know…

CLARISSE

That's why she had to leave Burma. There was that ruby merchant's daughter.

ESME

But you wouldn't. I mean, provided you had the opportunity.

CLARISSE

I'd try anything…at least three times.

COLIN

That means you have one more to go. (A drum roll. A bright spotlight falls on the beaded curtains. A few SOLDIERS and SAILORS race to position themselves on the staircase. Silence descends. The atmosphere is fraught with tension and expectation.) ESME Clarisse, hold my hand. I think I'm going to faint. (Step-by-step, inch-by-inch, MOLLY appears from behind the dangling beads. She is every great star who ever became déclassé and wound up singing in a South Seas dive. but if she reminds you of Marlene Dietrich, don't be a bit surprised. SHE begins her song at the top of the stairs, making contact with the SERVICEMEN who are anticipating her.) MOLLY                                         Hello, soldier,
                                        Hello, sailor,
                                        Got a cigarette?
                                        I like your silhouette.
                                        I'd love to see it wet. Hello, sailor,
Hello, soldier,
I have never met
One I could not handle yet.
The bigger they come,
The harder they get.

In the room upstairs
There's a bed of brass,
And the ceiling bears
One large looking glass.
There's an antique clock there
That doesn't keep time;
There's a door to lock there
And a wall to climb.
In the room upstairs
You can really soar
On two easy chairs
Or the hardwood floor.
There is not much noise there,
Only moaning refrains;
When you see my toys there,
They will blow your brains.
You can rest your head
On my satin spread
And forget your cares---
You will flip your cork, my dear,
In that room upstairs.

In the room upstairs,
The dessert's supreme---
There are prickly pears
And there's whipping cream.
You can stay and lunch there
And possibly sup---
I've got lots to munch there
And to gobble up.
When the shadows fall
You may even be
In my shower stall
Which was built for three.
I've an ancient etching
I think will amaze
Of two Hindus stretching
In some fifty ways.
Once you lay your feet
On that satin sheet,
You can say your prayers---
You will lose your marbles, boy,
In the room upstairs.

(When she reaches Clarisse, who is hypnotized by her, MOLLY bends down and kisses her full on the lips. The ONLOOKERS are stunned. Then SHE makes her way up the stairs, avoiding the lunging arms of the MEN around her. At the top, SHE takes a gardenia from her hair and tosses it to the crowd. TWO SAILORS catch it and begin to fight over it. Soon EVERYONE is breaking chairs, slugging each other, and smashing mirrors, glasses and bottles. ARMAND DUVAL quickly exits up the staircase.) COLIN Clarisse, Esme, we must get out of here. (ESME rises, but CLARISSE remains in the same position.) COLIN Stop playing games, Clarisse. I'm told our Embassy here will protect us from everything except Mandalay Molly. Clarisse, do you hear me?
 

ESME

Clarisse, dearest… (SHE touches Clarisse's shoulder. CLARISSE falls off the chair in a dead faint of ecstasy.) BLACKOUT